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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 05221990 - 1.34 l®®34 t TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra Costa FROM: •;�- Phil Batchelor, County Administrator g•,Iz May County DATE: y 11 1990 Calf.yS� SUBJECT: LEGISLATION: SB 2030 (Boatwright) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMUMATION Indicate that the Board of Supervisors continues to SUPPORT SB 2030 by Senator Boatwright which would authorize members and retired members of a 1937 Act retirement system where the board of supervisors made the provision applicable in that county to pay contributions for service in the merchant marine of the United States during World War II and thereby obtain credit for such service, which they were previously precluded from claiming due to federal law. ' BACKGROUND: on April 24 , 1990 the Board of Supervisors voted to support SB 2030. On April 24, 1990 the bill was amended. The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 authorizes members to receive service credit for various periods of "public service upon payment of specified contributions. Such credit has generally been limited to military service which was recognized as such by the federal government and had to be purchased prior to retirement. Until recently, service in the merchant marine has not been recognized as military service, even though it took place during a declared war. Federal law has recently been amended to recognize merchant marine service during World War II as "public service" and CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: )AYES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON May APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. M CC: ATTESTED MAY 2 2 1990 PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Please see Page 2. M382 (10/88) BY ,DEPUTY thereby eligible for purchase by a member of a 1937 Retirement Act County as service credit for purposes of computing retirement credits and, therefore, retirement benefits. Unfortunately, it has not been possible for an employee who was already retired to purchase retirement service credit for prior military service. At least one member of the Contra Costa County Retirement System is caught in this "Catch 22" where prior to the time he retired he could not purchase his merchant marine service time because it was not recognized as "public service" time under federal law, but once he retired he could not purchase the time when the federal law changed since he was already retired. The Contra Costa County Retirement Board has sponsored SB 2030 by Senator Boatwright to allow this retired employee and any other retired or active employees similarly situated in any 1937 Act county to purchase their merchant marine service time and thereby increase their retirement pay. As amended April 24, 1990, SB 2030 would only be operative in a county when the board of supervisors by resolution adopted by a majority vote, made this provision applicable. in the county. In view of what appears to be a relatively unique situation, it appears only equitable for the Board of Supervisors to continue to indicate its support of SB 2030. cc: Senator Boatwright County Administrator Retirement Administrator Director of Personnel County Counsel Les Spahnn, SRJ. Jackson, Barish & Associates 0 1-035 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra 5 � Costa FROM: •� Phil Batchelor, County Administrator May 11 1990 f° County DATE: y r SUBJECT: LEGISLATION: AB 2115 (Wright) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOPOU9NDATION Indicate that the Board of Supervisors continues its neutral position in regard to AB 2115 by Assemblywoman Wright which would, as amended April 26 , 1990, no longer address the issue of requiring the County of Contra Costa to transfer $50 , 000 from its Trial Court Block Grant to the Oakland Zoo and would, in fact, delete the $500,000 appropriation from the General Fund which had been made available in the April 17, 1990 version of the bill. BACKGROUND- In 1988, as a part of approving the Trial Court Block Grant Program, an amendment was slipped into the legislation at the last minute to require that the State Controller withhold $50 ,000 from Contra Costa County' s Trial Court Block Grant each year and transfer the money to the Oakland Zoo. The Trial Court Block Grant included two companion bills. The Oakland Zoo provision was in the first of the two bills to be signed, which became Chapter 944, Statutes of 1988. The second of the two bills repealed and reenacted the chapter of the code into which the Oakland Zoo provision had been placed. However, the Oakland Zoo language was not repeated in the reenacted portion of the second bill, which became Chapter 945, Statutes of 1988 . As a result, the requirement that $50,000 annually be transferred from the County to the Oakland Zoo was, in fact, CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENTYes YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE , _2L APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(SL. C&jjw/ ACTION OF BOARD ON Dday—2 2-, L)9 0 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. MAY 2 2 CC: ATTESTED 1990 f PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Please see Page 2. BY � M382 (10/88) 'DEPUTY repealed as soon as it was enacted. This was not discovered until recently. The same "chaptering out" repealed a. provision placed in the bill by Ventura County to guarantee that Ventura County would receive at least $5 million from the Trial Court Block Grant, despite the transfers to the "no and low" property tax cities in Ventura County. When it was discovered that both of these provisions had been chaptered out, Assemblywoman Wright was asked to amend into her AB 2115 provisions reinstating both the provision relating to Ventura County and the provision requiring . the transfer from Contra Costa County' s Trial Court Block Grant to the Oakland Zoo. The Board of Supervisors had opposed the provision requiring this transfer to the Oakland Zoo when it occurred and continued to oppose it in 1989 . As a result of the opposition expressed by the Board of Supervisors and the efforts of Senator Daniel Boatwright this provision of the bill has been amended out of AB 2115 . Instead, the bill, as amended April 17 , 1990, appropriates $500,000 from the General Fund for allocation to the Oakland Zoo. On May 15, 1990 the Board of Supervisors dropped its opposition to AB 2115 as amended April 17, 1990 . The bill was amended on April 26 , 1990 to delete the appropriation. The bill now addresses only the Ventura County issue which does not directly affect Contra Costa County. It is, therefore, appropriate for the Board of Supervisors to continue to remain neutral. to AB 2115 as amended April 26 , 1990, while remaining opposed to any efforts to reinstate this requirement in any other manner. It is, therefore, recommended that the Board of Supervisors indicate that it continues to be neutral to At 2115 , as amended April 26, 1990 . cc: Senator Daniel Boatwright Senator Nicholas Petris Assemblyman Tom Bates Assemblyman William P. Baker Assemblyman Robert Campbell Assemblyman Phil Isenberg Assemblywoman Cathie Wright County Administrator Donald L. Bouchet, Auditor-Controller Assistant Administrator-Finance Les Spahnn, SRJ. Jackson, Barish & Associates